[GLLUG] Meeting Thursday, September 28

[Thomas Hruska]

Charles Ulrich wrote:
> Another weekly GLLUG meeting is scheduled to be held at the Gone Wired
> cybercafe in Lansing at 6:00PM. Gone Wired is at 2021 E Michigan Ave
> in Lansing on the north side of the street between N Clemens and
> Fairview avenues. Here is a map with the (approximate) location:
> 
> http://maps.google.com/maps?q=2021+E+Michigan+Ave,+Lansing,+MI
> 
> We typically meet in the back portion of the cafe on the lower level.
> Venue website: http://www.gonewiredlansing.com/
> 
> Agenda: Basic Command Line Tasks
> 
> Imagine a flat, pitch-black rectangle upon which lines and lines of gray
> glyphs have been superimposed. Individually, most of them appear
> familiar, but they make little sense in their presented order. Numerals
> and blank spaces seem to have been dropped in among letters at random.
> It was said that in ancient times, very wise scholars with long beards
> and tattered blue jeans could actually speak this strange language,
> though nobody except the other wise scholars could understand what they
> were saying.
> 
> The command line is the language of Unix. These days you can get quite
> far with Linux and other Unix-like operating systems by pointing and
> clicking every widget in sight. But when there's a real problem to be
> solved, sometimes the only solution is to cast open a terminal window
> and hammer out obscure chants. This week, Caleb will introduce you to
> the Linux command line and explain a few of the more common incantations
> that you'll need to get started.
> 
> Please take a moment to RSVP if you plan to attend this meeting so
> that we can get a general idea of how many will show up. Just reply to
> this message (with the GLLUG list address in the "To:" field)
> indicating your desire to attend and/or change the message Subject to
> "RSVP". Thanks!

RSVP = Real Scary Voodoo'ish Power

The command-line grants great power and refined control but must be used 
wisely or one might 'rm -rf /' and lose everything.  What's really 
mysterious is why some of the commands are so weirdly named (e.g. 'ls' = 
directory listing?!  'Samba' = network sharing?!).  The answer?  That's 
the average Linux programmer for you - weird names for everything 
instead of picking names that make sense.  Weird names make it hard to 
find the command-line you are looking for but it's okay...that's what 
Google and 3 hours of searching to obtain the correct "incantation" are 
for.  Or you can come to the meeting and learn from those who have done 
the Google searching already.

<grin>

(That's my weak attempt at humor.  Open Source programmers _DO_ pick 
some of the strangest names for their projects...which can make the 
right project difficult to find unless you know the name in advance.)

--
Thomas Hruska
CubicleSoft President
Ph: 517-803-4197

Safe C++ Design Principles (First Edition)
Learn how to write memory leak-free, secure,
stable, portable, and user-friendly software.

Learn more and view a sample chapter:
http://www.CubicleSoft.com/SafeCPPDesign/